Apparatus for storing and distributing acetylene gas.



No. 664,383. l Patented Dec. 25, I900. a. u. A. CLAUDE & s. A. mass.

APPARATUS FOR STORING AND DISTRIBUTING AGETYLENE GAS.

(Application fllad Km. 1, 1897.)

(No lodol.)

wessea fir /gi ars" is forced under suitable pressure.

I vessel having an inlet as well as the outlet,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGES MARIE AUGUSTE CLAUDE, O

F ST. MANDE, AND GEORGES ALBERT HESS, OF PARIS, FRANCE, ASSIGNORS TO BRUNO A BDANK-ABAKANO- WIOZ, OF PARC ST. MAUR, FRANCE APPARATUS FOR STORING AND DISTRIBUTING ACETYLENE GAS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 664,383, dated December 25, 1900.

Application filed March 1, 1897.

To all whom it may concern:

.Be it known that we, GEORGES MARIE'AU- GUSTE CLAUDE, residing at St. Mand, and GEORGES ALBERT HEss, residing at Paris, France, citizens of the Republic of France, have invented an Improvement in Apparatus for the Storage and Distribution of Acetylene Gas, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention pertains to apparatus for the storage and distribution of acetylene gas, and is designed to carry out a process of storageand distribution involving the employment of a chamber charged with a solvent of the gas to be stored and into which thegas The apparatus is to be charged or prepared at a central station or distributing-point and shipped or transported to the intended place of use as a com plete article or package adapted to be placed i..- communication with the burners or pipes of a building, room, or space to be lighted or heated.

To this end the apparatus embodying the present invention consists, essentially, in a closed receptacle containing acetylene gas in solution and having an outlet for the gastso positioned as to be normally above the level of said solution and adapted to be provided with a burner or connected with a pipe system for the final use or distribution of the gas which escapesfrom the solution owing to the diminution of pressure when the said outlot is opened. It is desirable, moreover, that the receptacle which contains the liquid solvent should be conveniently arranged for the charging process as well as for the discharging process, and to that end the said receptacle is shown as consisting of a fluid-tight the mouth of said inlet being extended below the surface of the solvent liquid, so that gas introduced through the same will pass th rough the liquid to aid in the solution of said gas. The inlet and outlet passages are provided with suitable valves or cocks to close the same after the receptacle is charged with gas and when it is not in use. It is further desirable for the proper operation of the burnsaid inlet-tube being also provided with a Serial No. 625,680. (No model.)

be delivered thereto under a substantially uniform pressure only slightly above the atn ospheric pressure, and for this purpose means are provided for controlling the outlet whereby the gas is allowed to escape therethrough at substantially uniform pressure, a reducing-valve being herein shown as interposed between the'ginterior of the recept-acle which contains the dissolved gas and the outlet from which said gas is allowed to escape for use.

Figure 1 is a vertical cross-section of the apparatus embodying the invention, and Fig. 2 an elevation showing a modification.

The receptacle or' closed vessel or is provided with an inlet-tube a havinga suitable coupling a for connecting the same to the gas-supply pipe A, shown as provided witha controlling-valve A whereby the gas-supply maybe turned on after the receptacle a is coupled-to the pipe A and turned 01f after the said receptacle is properly charged, the

valve or cock at. Contained within the reservoir is a fluid b, such as alcohol or acetone, capable of dissolving acetylene gas.

In order to facilitate the process of solution, the tube (t is shown as extendingdownward nearly to the bottom of the receptacle a, so that the gas is admitted at a point near the bottom thereof and rises through the liquid as it enters. To discharge the gas from the said receptacle a, the upper portion thereof has an outlet-passage 0, provided with a coupling 0 for the purpose of connecting it to the pipe system leading to the burners which are to be supplied or to a single burner, and a valve 0 adapted to be opened after the receptacle is properly coupled for use.

In order that the gas deliveredfrom the receptacle may pass into the pipes to the burners under a substantially uniform pressure, (the pressure of the gas within the receiver of course decreasing as the gas passes out therefrom,) a reducing-valve d of any suitable or usual construction is interposed between the interior of the receptacle and the outlet 0 therefrom.' As herein shown, the said reducing-valve is in a passage d connccting the spaces below and above a wall or partition 01 near the upper portion of the re- 'ceptaicle a, the dissolved acetylene being contained in that portiouof the receptaclewhich is below the said partition, the portion above "reducing-valve. .valve d may be set or adjusted to respond to stem (1 of said valve. through the agency of the reducing-valve the pressure in said upper reservoir will be subbeing normally empty and forming a reservoir 'for the gas at low pressure which has passed into said reservoir through the said In order that the reducingstantially uniform, so that the supply of gas I in the pipes is properly controlled, the pressure being substantially the same when the receptacle is fully charged as when itis nearly.

exhausted.

When the gas-storing apparatus is to be connected with supply-pipes for distribution throughout a building, it is desirable to duplicate the apparatus, as shown in Fig. 2 and by settingthe reducing-valve d of one receptacle to respond to a slightly-lower pressure than that of the reducing-valve d of the other receptacle the receptacle having its valve set for lower pressure will not begin to deliver gas until the contentskof the other receptacle are substantially exhausted, after which the one having its reducing-valve set for lower pressure will begin todeliver its contents. In this instance the reducing-valves may beplaced at theexterior of the vessels, the passages from the lower to the upper chambers thereof being formedf in the tubes 01 and said valves are shown as provided with adjusting-handles (Z and d, whereby they may be readily set, as above described. The two receptacles areshown as connected with a main pipe B through branch pipes B each empty one and its reducing-valve set at a' slightly-lower pressure than that of' the one which .is then partially discharged. By this plan itisv possible to use up substantially the wholecharge of each reservoir without danger of failure of the supply.

It may in some cases be desirable to provide each apparatus with a burner, so that said apparatus in itself constitutes a lamp, or to provide lamp-burners, in-conj unction with which the apparatus maybe used as a detachable fount.

We claim At or after this time a "'1. A closed vessel containinga supersaturated solution of acetylene produced by forcing acetylene into a solvent under pressure, said vessel having an outletfor the acetylene gas which escapes from the solvent when the pressure is released or reduced, and means for controlling said outlet whereby the gas may escape therethrough at substantially uniform pressure, substantially as described. l

2. A prepared package consisting of a tight shell or vessel; a solvent of acetylene contained within saidvessel; and acetylene dissolved in and held by said solvent under pressure and constituting therewith a super saturated solution, the package being provided at a point above the solvent with a reducing-valve, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. The herein-described apparatus for storing gas and deliveringit at a substantially uniform rate, the same comprising a shell or vessel a containing a supersaturatedsolution of gas; a valved inlet-pipe a extending to a point near the bottom of the chamber a; a

to said opening; and a valved outlet-pipe c through which the gas after passing the re-- ducing-valve may escape to the main or distributing pipes.

4. In an apparatus for storing and delivering gas, a vessel containing a supersaturated solution of gas; an inlet-pipe opening into said vessel near the bottom of the cham-' ber provided for the solvent; an outlet-opening from the solvent-chamber above' the level of the solvent; and a reducing-valve applied to said outlet and serving to permit escape of t he gas in regulated and uniform quantity.

5. As a new. article of manufacture, a gaspackage comprising a holder or tight vessel; a contained charge ofacetone; a volume or body of gas dissolved by and compressed and contained within the solvent; and a reducing-valve applied to an opening extending to the interior of the holder above the level of the solvent, substantially as set forth.

6. The herein described holder. for gas, comprising a tight vessel having a -chamber to receive a solvent of the gas,"an outlet for the gas in-the upper part of said chamber, a

reducing-valve applied to said outlet, jmeans for temporarily sealing the vessel completely; 

